Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish

The yellow longnose butterflyfish takes its name from its thin, long, tweezer-like snout that can reach into coral and rock crevices. Its body is bright yellow; the upper half of the snout and the top of the head form a black triangle, while the lower part of the head and the chest are silvery white. On the anal fin, just below the tail base, there is a small black eyespot.

The related species F. longirostris has an even longer snout and is rarer; the two are often confused in the trade. F. flavissimus is one of the butterflyfish that switches most easily to prepared food and lives longest in the aquarium. Specimens are wild-collected.

It lives over a very wide range from the Indo-Pacific to the Eastern Pacific, especially on seaward reefs and sometimes in lagoons. It is seen alone or in small groups of up to five individuals; adults often form pairs. In the wild it picks off the tube feet of sea urchins and sea stars, worm tentacles, fish eggs and small crustaceans.

• Volume: At least 400 liters and 150 cm in length.
• Water: Salinity specific gravity 1.023–1.026, pH 8.1–8.4, temperature 24–27°C. Low nitrate and stable water.
• Decor: Mature live rock full of crevices to probe with its snout, and wide swimming space.
• Reef compatibility: Reef-safe with caution. It usually leaves stony and soft corals alone; it may pick at tube worms (fanworms), small shrimp and the tube feet of sea urchins and sea stars. Some specimens may taste the tips of LPS polyps.

Carnivorous. Offer frozen mysis, brine shrimp, chopped mussels and shrimp, copepods and fish roe. In the first days, smearing food into rock crevices or offering a mussel split in half in its shell stimulates its appetite. Feed small amounts 2–3 times a day.

A peaceful, calm fish; it gets along with most fish that are not of its own species. Two individuals of the same species may chase each other unless they are a mated pair. Aggressive fish keep it away from food.

Good companions: Tangs, dwarf and Genicanthus angelfish, anthias, wrasses, foxface, clownfish, cardinalfish.

Avoid: Triggerfish and large pufferfish, lionfish, tube worms and small ornamental shrimp, a second Forcipiger.

Kept as a single specimen or a mated pair sold together in the aquarium.

A monogamous species; pairs release pelagic eggs. It does not breed in the home aquarium.

• Marine white spot and velvet: Quarantine is essential.
• Loss of appetite while settling in: It may be picky in the first days; try a variety of live and frozen foods.
• Copper sensitivity: Butterflyfish are sensitive to copper treatment; treatment should be monitored carefully.

Cannot be reliably distinguished externally.